Newsgroups may be changed:
- From moderated to unmoderated.
- This change may be initiated by members of the group or by the B8MB when a moderated group has been abandoned.
- From unmoderated to moderated.
- Changing a group from unmoderated to moderated is "strongly discouraged" - which, in practice, means "practically impossible."
- There are many News Service Providers who would not make the change. Some people would see a moderated group, others with different NSPs would see the moderated version.
- Such changes in the past have cultivated massive resentments. Leaving the original group intact and creating a companion moderated group allows group members to have a choice between the two different kinds of newsgroups on the same topic.
- In all likelihood, the board won't even publish an RFD to change a group from unmoderated to moderated. A proposal for such a change should not be submitted unless the group finds a way to demonstrate virtual unanimity. We strongly recommend that you instead spend your effort on learning how to use filters or how to create a moderated companion to the original group.
- Examples of change from unmoderated to moderated:[1]
I think the RFD's for most are here. In many cases, there is the
original RFD for the unmoderated group, and the RFD for the switch to
a moderation a year or two later.
ftp:''ftp.isc.org/pub/usenet/news.announce.newgroups
comp.ai (cross-posting, spam, noise)
comp.compression.research ("research" not magic token)
comp.infosystems.www.authoring.cgi (robomoderated)
comp.lang.asm.x86 (flame wars - 68000 is too better)
comp.lang.visual (confusion - MS Visual Basic)
comp.programming.literate (confusion - programming literacy)
comp.protocols.dns.ops (renamed comp.protocols.tcp-ip.domains)
comp.std.c++ (confusion - c++ rather than standardization)
comp.windows.news (confusion - news about MS-Windows)
misc.business.facilitators (confusion - Ponzi scheme business)
news.newusers.questions (disorganized)
rec.arts.comics.creative (off-topic swamps low volume)
rec.crafts.jewelry (off topic/commercial)
rec.games.mecha (flame-wars)
rec.music.makers.guitar.tablature (noise, non-tabs)
sci.aeronautics (noise)
soc.culture.indian.telugu (robo-moderate cross-posts)
soc.genealogy.african (offensive, racist trolling)
soc.support.pregnancy.loss (inflamatory/trolling)
talk.origins (excessive cross-posting)
The B8MB may also in rare and unusual circumstances change the moderator(s) of a newsgroup.
How Moderation Is Supposed to Work
- A new post is sent via the News Net Transfer Protocol (NNTP) to a news server.
- IF it is correctly configured, the news server sees the group is moderated, and relays the post via e-mail to ISC.org via the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).
- ISC.org sends the message via SMTP to the email (SMTP) address used by the moderator(s).
- The email server passes the post to the moderator(s) or the moderation software.
- If the post is approved, either automatically by software or by a human decision, the "approved" header is added to the post.
- The post is then injected via NNTP into a news server, which then shares it with its peers.